Rebuild
by Hope Shalott
Summary: A series of interconnecting one-shots that focus on Caroline and Rebekah as they try to recover and rebuild after their recent losses.
1. Losing Hope

**Title: **Losing Hope

**Summary**: She always knew this day would come

**Disclaimer**: The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and their characters belong to their respective owners. I am not making any profit from this story.

**Characters: **Rebekah/Elijah/Hope

**Genre: **Angst/Hurt/Family

**Rating**: Teen +

**Warnings: **None

* * *

**Losing Hope**

* * *

Tuesdays are craft days.

Hope is four and Rebekah has never needed to work a day in her life so Tuesdays are craft days.

They are just pinning the tail on a toilet tube dragon when the doorbell goes. Rebekah is expecting a parcel. She does most of her shopping on-line these days.

She hears the familiar rustle of Elijah's suit jacket before she sees him. She looks back at Hope who has glue in her messy, dirty blonde hair. She takes a deep breath and commits it to memory, suddenly wishing she had spent more time on the details.

Elijah smiles when she opens the door. He smiles like it is the brightest day in a 1000 years. He smiles because he has always been particularly dense, or apathetic, when it comes to how Rebekah feels.

She knew this day would come. She just didn't know how much it would actually hurt.

"You could have called first," She says, angry, sad...hopeless.

Elijah deigns to look sombre. "You knew this day would come." Sometimes she wonders if he can read her mind.

"I hate you." She says as she opens the door wider.

**xxx**

Hope cries as Rebekah packs her bags. She cries and screams and kicks Elijah's shins as he carries her down the stairs.

"I want to stay here!" Hope wails and Rebekah's heart breaks for her because in that child she sees herself and her own destiny; but it doesn't matter what Hope wants. Elijah will sacrifice the dreams and wishes of all of them to redeem Niklaus; Hope included.

"Calm her," he says after Hope's cries become strong enough to make him the slightest bit remorseful.

"Why didn't they come themselves?" Rebekah asks, particularly spiteful. She shouldn't blame them, she shouldn't hate them but she does. She just can't help it.

She kneels down in front of Hope who throws her arms around her neck and holds on with more strength than she knew a child could possess. "Please don't let him take me away, Auntie Bex. Please. I'll miss you. I'll miss my friends!"

"Hush, darling. Hush." Rebekah rubs the child's back the same way she did when Hope caught chicken pox and couldn't sleep. The same way she did with every scraped knee and nightmare.

"It will be okay. Your parents love you very much. You will make new friends and I will come to visit you often."

Hope's cries only increase. Her grip tightens. Rebekah gives her the tightest hug she can without hurting her and tries to infuse it with every ounce of devotion she has ever felt for the girl. "I love you so very much, sweetling. Never forget that."

Eventually, all that is left to do is to let her cry until she exhausts herself and Elijah is able to carry her off without too much damage.

"It is temporary," He says, by way of a parting gift. "When Hayley has had a chance to bond with her and she has settled, you can come home and we can be a family again, sister." He smiles, hopeful and happy.

_You are a fool,_ Rebekah thinks and she half wonders if she is thinking about him or herself.

It was always in the plan for Rebekah to take a step back once New Orleans was stabilised and Hope was reunited with her parents. Rebekah is only reminded of how easily plans are thought and how laboriously they are executed. What a sad, naive idiot Rebekah must be to think that she could so easily let go of something she had craved for so long.

It takes three minutes for Elijah to settle Hope enough for him to drive and Rebekah stands frozen in time, watching the door and praying for the moment that she wakes up from this horrible nightmare. Tires hit the asphalt and Hope's crying fades out.

Rebekah makes herself a cup of tea and sits on her favourite chair in the sun-room. She smiles as she watches the birds play on the feeder. Then she cries.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Some short one-shots to help me break through a bit of writers block and explore a new fandom. Does not follow the atrocious body swapping plot. Rebekah is Rebekah. To any readers who are following my other incomplete stories, I have not abandoned them. I'm just trying to get my mojo back.


	2. Wake Up and Smell the Desperation

**Title: **Wake Up and Smell the Desperation

**Summary**: Waking up is hard to do.

**Disclaimer**: The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and their characters belong to their respective owners. I am not making any profit from this story.

**Characters: **Caroline/Rebekah

**Genre: **Angst/Hurt/Family

**Rating**: Teen +

**Warnings: **Some bad language

* * *

**Wake Up and Smell the Desperation**

* * *

Caroline's eyes are hurting. She opens one into the sunlight, hoping that the action, as minimal as it is, will be enough to stop the persistent knocking on the front door.

She does try. She gives it her best shot, arms braced and manages to push herself up before exhaustion overwhelms her and she reburies her face into the pillow.

Waking up is hard to do.

She hears a dull pang of wood against metal and she knows that the handle is gone. She tenses; waiting for the smell to hit her nose. She sends up a prayer that it won't be whiskey. She loves Enzo to death but she can't deal with his 'devil may care, life takes us all in the end' attitude.

Especially when she knows that he's only trying to help. She wants to tell him that the fact that he has it in himself to give a shit after what he has gone through in life gives her enough hope that things will get better but she just can't bring herself to believe it.

She hears muttering and mumbles of a female who has suddenly realised that she can't get through the front door. Caroline should probably check it out. It could be another evil vampire threat of course, but then her duvet is pretty snug and comfy right now.

She buries back in. The rapping continues against her broken door.

"Go away!" Caroline screeches after a minute of non-stop tapping.

"Invite me in, you bloody cow!"

Caroline lifts her head as far as she can be bothered to.

What the fuck is Rebekah Mikaelson doing on her doorstep?

She strains her ears for any hint that her douchewad brother might be with her but she doesn't so much as pick up the scent of cologne and skank-banging hybrid.

"Go to hell." Caroline mutters, head flopping back onto her pillow.

A window smashes. Caroline grits her teeth. A garden gnome comes sailing through her bedroom window just missing her head by an inch. Caroline loudly pretends to snore.

"I'll eat your neighbour." Rebekah shouts.

"Go ahead!" Caroline shouts back down, enjoying the slight gasp and shocked silence for a moment as Rebekah decides whether to follow through on her threat. Then she remembers how Mrs Berry always gave her, Elena and Bonnie popsicles in summer and how she used to save Caroline the best candy during Trick or Treating.

"Fine," she huffs down before Rebekah can decide one way or the other. "Come in if you want. I don't care."

She barely has time to lay her head back down when she feels the air cool and move around her.

She's always been quite amazed at how fast an Original can move. She also feels the exact moment when Rebekah stalls in shock and tries to swallow a gasp.

"What the hell happened to you?" Rebekah says after apparently deciding against tact and decency as an opener.

"I'm tired." Caroline snarls, wishing now more than ever that the whole world would just leave her alone.

"You look like hell on earth. When was the last time you washed your hair?"

Even with her eyes closed, Caroline can almost see the look on Rebekah's face; nose scrunched up, chin tilted, eyes narrowed in horrified thought.

"What do you want?" Caroline asks, opting to ignore her entire existence beyond finding out why the hell the Original bitch is standing in her bedroom.

"I'm looking for Stefan. I can't find him. Him or Damon," she tacks on as an afterthought.

"I bet," Caroline snipes, face still buried in the pillow. "Who cares what brother as long as someone is paying attention to you."

Rebekah huffs and Caroline can imagine that she's folding her arms by the rustle of clothing. "Just tell me where they are."

Caroline sighs."You won't find them. Stefan and Damon have gone off to do some brotherly bonding at a car show."

"Fine. Where's Matt then?"

Caroline grins into the pillow for the first time in what feels like forever. Rebekah is still the most desperate 1000 year old bitch she has ever met. "He's visiting Tyler's pack...with his new girlfriend, and no, I am not going to tell you where they are."

"I could compel you," Rebekah says, sounding utterly miserable all of a sudden.

"I'm streamlining vervain," Caroline bluffs.

The room falls silent and Caroline thinks Rebekah has finally gone when she lifts her head and sees the other blonde, sitting in her cozy chair and staring out of the window.

There is something completely stripped down about Rebekah; little make-up, hair scraped back in a ponytail but it's the surprising vulnerability and despondency of her expression that has Caroline turning onto her side and bracing her head with her palm.

"What happened to you?"

There is silence for a moment and she wonders if Rebekah is going to cry. Instead, the blonde seems to pull herself together but her voice is still small when she says, "They took her back." Then after a pause she says, "Is Stefan really not here?"

Caroline understands better than anyone just how much Stefan can make everything feel better with just a word. She thinks she might have flipped the switch or staked herself by now if it wasn't for her best friend just being there. Not even saying anything. Whatever he goes through and however many heads he rips off, there has always been something solid and sturdy about Stefan.

"He's really away with Damon. They've been doing the whole brother bonding thing since Damon came back from the dead. So please don't hunt him down and ruin it. It took me four weeks to convince him that I was stable enough to be left alone."

"Why? What happened to you?"

Caroline wants to lie. Saying it still feels too real. She thinks of all the ways she could pussyfoot around it, make it sound better and easier but then she remembers that there are only a handful of people on this earth that have been surrounded by more death than Rebekah.

"My mom died. Cancer," she says and her voice catches on that word she hates so much.

Rebekah nods solemnly and Caroline appreciates that she doesn't offer any false sentiment or apologies.

"I have a spare key to the boarding house but you might not want to even bother. Katherine and Enzo are still there and I'm pretty sure they have a thing going on."

Rebekah bites her lip in thought. "I don't have anywhere else to go. I went to my mansion in California but it was just too white, too tidy. So I tried the vineyard in Rome but that was too quiet." She gives a sad smile. "Isn't it funny? Two months ago, I had everything I ever wanted from life. Now, I have nothing."

Caroline growls and throws the pillow over her head already deep in regret before she even opens her mouth. "Fine. You can stay here if you want just leave me alone and I'm not getting up until I want to."

Rebekah doesn't fall over herself with gratitude or say thank you or anything so common. She nods as though she is doing Caroline a huge favour by accepting her offer and stalks out of the room leaving the bed bound blonde wishing she could just turn the clock back a few minutes.

**xxx**

It is dark when Caroline hears the sharp squeak of her bedroom door. "Are you awake" Rebekah whispers and Caroline is seriously considering telling her to get the fuck out of her house. She opts for just pretending to be asleep instead.

"I know you're awake," Rebekah huffs.

Caroline groans into her pillow. "Then why ask?"

"I was being polite."

"Ha!" Caroline says. Rebekah Mikaelson hasn't shown a polite bone in her body since the day her and her deviant brother rolled up here and proceeded to terrorise her town.

"Well, I only came to ask if you wanted something to eat but if you're going to be a troll about it, I won't bother." Rebekah says, snootily. So snootily that Caroline almost misses the tone of disappointment underlying her words.

"What are you making?" Caroline asks and she can hear the pity in her own voice. Rebekah pretends not to notice.

"Duck and Limoncello pate with a panna cotta for dessert," Rebekah says, though she might as well have just said _pizza _according to the blasé wave of her hand that accompanies her words.

"I've gotten quite good at cooking," Rebekah says, filling space while Caroline is still wondering where she got the ingredients to make that shit in a town like Mystic Falls. There is a dangerously nostalgic air to her words though.

Despite the differences in the details of their respective situations, Caroline can understand that the worst thing about grief is the disappointment you feel when you realise that you've lost something important and will never have it back again.

"Sounds good," she says and somehow manages to force her legs over the side of the bed.

And because Rebekah is Rebekah, she pinches her nose and says, "Well, you might want to shower first."

_Bitch_.


	3. Blonde Distraction

**Title: ** Blonde Distraction

**Summary**: Stefan's not quite sure what planet he's on anymore

**Disclaimer**: The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and their characters belong to their respective owners. I am not making any profit from this story.

**Characters: **Caroline/Rebekah/Stefan

**Genre: **Angst/Hurt/Family

**Rating**: Teen +

**Warnings: **None

* * *

**Blonde Distraction**

* * *

Visiting Caroline is one of the first things Stefan does when he and Damon arrive home from the car show.

One of the last things he expects to find is Rebekah Mikaelson curled up on the sofa and dipping cookies into a cup of tea.

She barely stares back at him as he raises his eyebrows at her over Caroline's shoulder. Instead she seems far too engrossed in whatever daytime trashy soap has her attention.

"I've missed you," Caroline says with a brightness that he hasn't seen at full force since he told her that her mother was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it. "You best have gotten me a gift," she says, half heartedly. There's a keychain in his pocket that says _Welcome to Texas_ across the front but they both know that Caroline finds the inner workings of cars about as interesting as mould.

He kind of subtly nods his head in Rebekah's direction. Caroline not so subtly fills him in. "She's staying her for a little bit while Louse and Failey pretend to be parents in New Orleans."

For the first time since Stefan arrived, Rebekah comes to life. She laughs, though it seems more like a snarl. "Yes, so don't worry, Stefan. I'm not here to commit some dastardly deeds against you and your friends."

"You're here to watch Passions instead?" Stefan says with just a hint of his signature dry sarcasm. He does believe her. There's a certain kind of world weariness when she speaks...but he can't help but throw a barb her way.

Rebekah purses her lips and manages to look the smallest bit embarrassed. "It's better than watching the walls, Stefan. Caroline might not be the most sophisticated company," she says with a head tilt towards Caroline who just rolls her eyes like she's heard the same old song before, "but at least she's not as dull as your doppelgänger."

"Insulted in my own home," Caroline grumbles as she stalks off towards the kitchen after promising to fix Stefan the best welcome home snack he's ever seen. There is very little bite behind her words though.

Stefan takes the closest seat to Rebekah, waiting until he hears the microwave ping to life. He can't help but smile at Caroline; the eternal modern teenager.

"How has she been?" Stefan asks, keeping his voice low enough that the noise of the microwave will cover their conversation.

Rebekah shrugs, not terribly invested. "On and off. Mostly okay though. She was talking about going back to school last week."

_That's progress_, Stefan thinks. He's spent enough time with Caroline so sure that she had nothing left to live for and nothing to care about to know how big of a deal it is that she's even considering returning to college.

"I was thinking about it too." Rebekah says after a thoughtful pause. "Better than sitting around here all day." She says quickly, as though_ the_ Rebekah Mikaelson needs to excuse her sudden desire for academics.

"You should then," Stefan says because he can't really think of much else to say. Honestly, he's still not quite sure what exactly is going on here.

"So, you and Caroline are friends now?" He says, reclining back in his chair.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Rebekah's face twists in a sneer. "Friends with Caroline Forbes?"

It's not the most glowing response but Stefan notes that it's hardly an outright denial. It;s the specific lack of revulsion and irritation that usually accompanies Caroline's name that gives the game away though.

Caroline returns with the self-proclaimed best microwaved snack that Stefan has ever tasted and the three of them settle down to watch the next episode of Passions.

As Stefan tries to stifle his yawning and Caroline and Rebekah half-heartedly throw barbs and jabs in each others direction, Stefan finally understands why Rebekah is sitting on Caroline's sofa and why Caroline is letting her.

Sometimes, it helps to have a little blonde distraction.


	4. Looking Forward

**Title: **Looking Forward

**Summary**: Caroline and Rebekah enroll in college.

**Disclaimer**: The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and their characters belong to their respective owners. I am not making any profit from this story.

**Characters: **Caroline/Rebekah/Mentions of Klaus

**Genre: **Friendship/Reflection/Family

**Rating**: Teen +

**Warnings: **None

**Author's Note:** I've tried to filter in some canon, such as Caroline flipping the switch and alluding to her hooking up with Stefan. I do have plans to perhaps delve into the details at a later date but, as evident in the last chapter, Stefan and Caroline are in a good place regarding their friendship.

* * *

**Looking Forward**

* * *

"Is this going to take much longer?" Rebekah asks as she taps her foot against the cheap linoleum.

Caroline scrunches her nose and looks at the clock. They've been here for almost two hours, signing one piece of paper after another and pretending to be interested in whatever half-assed advice the seniors want to shill.

"You know, you didn't have to sign up for the same classes as me, right?" Caroline says. She's not being sarcastic. Rebekah has been staying at the Forbes family home for almost three months now and somewhere along the line, there has been a shift in their relationship. It's not quite friendship but Rebekah has decided that she is somewhat invested in Caroline's emotional recovery. "I don't need a babysitter," she adds, softly so Rebekah knows she isn't being a complete asshole about it.

"Please," The older blonde answers. "I'm here because I enjoy history and Occult history isn't something I've ever studied before. I am quite surprised that _you_ signed up for this class though. I thought interior decorating or party planning would be more your style."

Caroline rolls her eyes and decides to forgo informing Rebekah that the school doesn't offer a party planning course. It's not like Caroline's whole life is devoted to shiny, glitter balls and fancy dresses. She likes being organised, active and she likes the satisfaction that comes with getting things done. It's so easy how everybody seems to forget that on top of organizing the best events in Mystic Falls, and being Head Cheerleader, she also managed to maintain a 4.0 GPA and might as well have built a vacation home on the honor roll.

Caroline Forbes is an over-achiever. In whatever she chooses to do. Even bloody, senseless violence, she thinks, but luckily Rebekah's cell rings and veers Caroline away from thoughts that never lead to anywhere fun.

Rebekah's hand stills as she looks at the number. Caroline doesn't even have to ask. Rebekah has taken to accepting his calls well out of Caroline's earshot; as though hearing his voice might push her over the edge or something.

Caroline wants to tell her that she's beyond it, that she has other things to worry about but there's still a part of her that wants to keep that distance, just in case. Finding out about Hayley and Hope hadn't been the easiest thing to process, especially after Klaus had made sure that he got what he wanted out of her. Caroline can't help but be a little bitter that Klaus has pissed all over their 'maybes' for Hayley of all people.

Though when it comes to the Hybrid's increasingly frequent phone calls to his sister, Caroline's focus tends to drift from her own feelings towards that sad, small tone that Rebekah gets whenever she is forced to revisit certain aspects of her life that she would rather not.

Caroline isn't the only one who has suffered and Rebekah isn't the only one who is emotionally invested.

"Just tell him to get lost," she whispers as she hooks her arm through Rebekah's and leads her away, phone still to her ear. She knows Klaus can hear her, she can tell by the sharp breath as he hears her voice, but she doesn't particularly care. "There's two beefcake frat boys checking us out over there and some of us are still _free _to party the night away."

Caroline lets go of Rebekah's arm and walks back to the front desk out of hearing range. She doesn't need to hear what Klaus is saying. All that matters is that Rebekah is trying to hide a satisfied smirk as her conversation with her brother comes to an end.

"Let's get this rigmarole over with," Rebekah says as she drops her cell into her purse, and if she's not overjoyed to be still filling out forms, she does seem a little brighter.

They sit quietly for a moment, only pen scratch noises between them, before Rebekah's hand stills and she looks up thoughtfully. "He said he's been trying to contact you for a while but your cell has been disconnected."

Caroline shrugs. "I got rid of everything after my mom died. Clean break." It had been one of Caroline's greatest regrets after she flipped her humanity switch back on (those not pertaining to Stefan at least) She had managed to recover some things; photos, videos, her mom's favorite cosy chair...but a lot had been lost to her.

Rebekah nods and taps her pen against her bottom lip. "He asked me to tell you something."

Caroline doesn't hesitate in her response. She has learned that open wounds are easily infected. "Tell me some other time," she says.

Rebekah smiles and looks down at her form. Nothing will replace those precious few years that she had with Hope but Caroline is right in her own way. Looking back leads nowhere so she puts pen to paper and looks forward instead.


End file.
